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Thanks to everyone who helped make our annual Apple/Pear tasting a success. Thanks especially to Keith Borglum for arranging the venue at Ace Cidery. We had a cool place out of the sun and a chance to taste some wonderful ciders.

At the bottom were: Rhode Island Greening, Granny Smith and Hauer Pippin followed by Winesap, Pink Pearl, Black Twig and Red Delicious. Granny and RI Greening are both cooking apples. Hauer Pippin and Black Twig are far from ripe. Pink Pearl is past its prime by almost two months.

For those who don’t know how we judge our blind tasting, this is how we do it. Each variety has a number and is ranked from 1 to 10. A score of 7-10 is high and 1-4 is low. We total the high and low scores for each variety and take the difference for the final number. For instance, Wickson had 4 lows and 13 highs for a final score of 9.

Pear tasting is done similarly. Of the 16 varieties tasted, Dana Hovey was the clear winner followed by White Doyenne, Bosc and Red Bartlett. Winter Nellis was at the bottom, but it is a winter pear and needs more time to ripen. Dana Hovey and White Doyenne had zero low scores and Winter Nellis had zero high scores.

It was a big hit with attendees, and with hosts, as CRFG-Redwood won Best of Class and Reserve Champion awards! None of us knew the rules or reasons! CRFG-R won best of class for fruit, and 2nd place overall.

The most common question heard from attendees was “I have this fruit (apple,pear, etc) tree in my yard, do you know what it is?”

Golden Gate chapter president John Valenzuela gave a popular talk on “Discover Rare Fruit”.

Attendees took over 400 membership info handouts. The Chapter earned a few hundred dollars on the side selling old Fruit Gardener Magazines for $1 each.

CRFG-Redwood hosted their annual summer plant sale at the farmer’s market at the Wells Fargo Center in Santa Rosa. Special thanks to the 15 or so helpers who turned out, all worked grafting and potting at the winter grafting party, and to Keith Borglum for growing out the trees.

Members enjoyed a tour of John Foley’s orchard and gardens in Sebastopol while snacking on the many berries in season: Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries and Blackberries. Approximately 35 members turned out for the tour and pot-luck lunch that followed.

Our Citrus grafting clinic and Budwood pickup was held on Sat, May 17 at Dick Kirk’s place. Ray Sheehey brought 5 varieties of citrus rootstock for the clinic, and Dick Kirk provided numerous types of citrus budwood he had ordered from CCCPP.

Grafting demos were held and informal discussions ensued. Members enjoyed a beautiful day and a great tour of Dick’s impressive gardens.